Ganiza simplifies process of organizing outings with your buddies

While organizing meetings with your friends has long been facilitated by phone-calls, email messages, or, more recently, chats on Facebook and other platforms, Italian startup Ganiza has had more than 60K users download or interact with an app designed specifically for the social-planning process.

Essentially, the platform that they have created allows users to check out nearby activities or create your own, whether it involves having pizza at your place, listening to music at the pub, or whatever it is. Then, you can organize with your friends by having them vote on the proposals.

The service is free to end-users, as Ganiza has opted to generate revenue by allowing local businesses to promote events and by providing a social-planning analytics dashboard for major brands that have multiple local branches. The startup offers 3 packages, ranging from 19 to 49 Euro (or more, for the “custom” option) that differ in the time for which your event is promoted (3 days for the cheapest option, 10 days for the middle, and 15 (+ more cities) for the “custom”), in the level of customer support, and in access to “event magazines” that promote your event automatically.

One notable aspect about this startup is that they have released an app for Windows, as well as for Android and iOS. The startup’s apps have proven popular on Android, where it maintains a rating of 4.2 (out of 5) stars from 87 reviewers, and Windows, where it boasts rating of 4.4 stars (out of 5) from 37 ratings. Unfortunately, we do not know how users on iOS have taken to the service.

Ganiza has declined to reveal how much funding they have picked up since launching in early 2015, but tells me that they have backing from Sistema Investimenti. Going forward, the startup says that they intend to roll out features at the event-discovery phase (better user-event matching), as well as improve the social-planning experience (integrating chat, calendar, and more).